


A Most Ingenious Pair of Docs

by kitsunealyc



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-26 21:08:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunealyc/pseuds/kitsunealyc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes more than one Time Lord to pierce the void. Lucky for Rose, there are two who are willing to take the risk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part Θ

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this several years ago and am just porting it over to AO3 now. The first chapter starts a little slow, but it really gets going after that. I'm editing as I post, but the entire thing should be up by tomorrow evening.

Part Θ

Rose Tyler tossed her purse onto the foyer table and slipped off her heels with a sigh. The rest of her flat was dark, but warm light filled the entry as she flipped a switch shucked her coat, hat, and scarf. The days at Torchwood were long and not particularly rewarding, but they were a welcome break from the screaming silence of her flat and the melancholy recesses of her own mind. Sometimes when she was working at Torchwood, whole minutes passed by where she didn't think about the Doctor, didn't think about how she would never see him again, didn't think about the final words that he never got the chance to say. Giving in to the sag that always tugged at her shoulders these days, she hung up her coat.

She was just about to enter the main room and switch on the telly when a sound broke the silence. It was minor, maybe the scuff of a shoe on the floor, or the whisper of fabric against a wall. It was more a shift in the air than a sound, but Rose's Torchwood training kicked in. She lunged for the self-defense tazer she kept in her purse when the living room lamp flicked on. Her bag and its contents clattered to the floor, and she found herself struggling to breathe, blinking to clear her vision, damning the hope that suddenly flooded her chest.

"Hello," said the tawny-haired man in pinstripes and trainers lounging on her sofa.

"Hello," said the brooding, blue-eyed man in battered leather leaning against her fireplace mantel.

"Hello," Rose echoed. She put her hand to her head at the sudden, high-pitched buzzing in her ears. The edges of her vision began to go white.

"Oi, none of that." Her first Doctor strode forward, catching her by the elbows as her knees gave out. He turned a glare on her second Doctor, who had risen with a look of concern on his more animated features. "I told you we should have broken it to her more gently."

"And I agreed," said the tawny-haired Doctor. "But then you insisted that _you_ should be the one…oh, nevermind. Here, let's get her sitting." He came to her other side, and the two Doctors walked her to the sofa, sandwiching her between them as they all sat. The men glared at each other over her head, but she was more concerned about staying conscious.

"Breathe," her first Doctor instructed.

"Don't be daft. Rose, put your head between your knees. Like this." Her second Doctor demonstrated. "Should be easy for you. You're a limber girl. Remember that time on—"

"Do you _ever_ stop talking?"

Her second Doctor opened his mouth, probably to give her first Doctor a long-winded and meandering set-down. Rose pushed both of them back, one hand in the middle of each chest.

"Stop it. The both of you. Just…." She looked between them, still hardly able to believe they were there despite the fact that she could feel double heartbeats -- quadruple? -- beneath her palms. She shook her head to clear it.

"Who…what…." She wasn't even sure which questions to ask, finally settled on one of many: "How did you get here?"

The Doctors' gazes remained locked over her head, as if both of them wanted to tell her and neither was willing to yield. Finally, her first Doctor narrowed his eyes and nodded to the second.

"It was my idea," her second Doctor said. "I tried so many ways to get back to you, to get across the Void. My people used to do it all the time, I thought there must be some way…but everything I found required more than one Time Lord. And then I realized…" He looked up at his other self again, all his antagonism drained away. Rose's eyes widened with comprehension. It was exactly what she thought it was. They were the same man, and that meant…

"Doesn't this create a paradox or something?" whispered, appalled.

"Weeeelll." His features twisted and his brow furrowed in that way he had when he didn't want to admit to something. "Yeah, but just a little one. Hardly worth mentioning, as these things go."

She couldn't believe him. The big hypocrite. She turned to her first Doctor. "And you? You helped him do this? You agreed to this?" She could well believe that her second Doctor had conceived a plan like this. He had always been reckless and impetuous beyond belief. Always leaping blindly without looking or thinking. But her first Doctor… he hadn't been any less daring, but he'd at least been more considered in his actions

Most of the time. Except when it came to her.

"I did," he said.

She exhaled, sagged forward. For a moment, she couldn't take any air back in. It was like her lungs had collapsed. Then autonomous function returned with a deep inhalation. Both Doctors watched her with equal concern, as if she might break. She wasn't quite sure that she wouldn't.

"What…what happens now? Will there be Reapers?" She glanced around, as if she expected them to phase into being in the vaulted ceiling of her loft.

"No! No, no, no, no, not, no, nah…well…" her second Doctor sputtered in a long series of denials.

"No," her first Doctor cut in. "I… that one was careful to construct a closed time loop scenario to come and get me, so that we could find you. I may be rather pretty in my next regeneration, but I'm not stupid."

"Thank you," said her second Doctor. Then he seemed to recall his former regeneration's opinion of Rose's pretty boys. "That was…was that rude? It was rude. I thought I was the rude one."

Rose wasn't sure if they intended it to be reassuring, but she took comfort in their back and forth sniping. It seemed very right that her two Doctors would squabble, that they wouldn't quite get along. A hundred buried fantasies of them, singularly and together, sprung unbidden to her mind. Her face grew warm. Here she was being reunited with the love…er…loves of her life, and all she could think about was…

"Tea!" She bounced up from the sofa. "I can make tea. Would you like tea?"

"Rose." Both Doctors had risen when she did, still positioned on either side. For a moment she wasn't sure which one had spoken. Then her mind clicked. Low burr, northern accent. Her first Doctor.

"Look," began the second. "We know this is…"

"Awkward," supplied the first.

" _Unexpected_. And we're sorry for that. But this was the only way, and we—"

"This isn't how I imagined it," Rose whispered. She looked at the floor, at the beamed ceiling, blinking back tears. No more crying. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry over him anymore.

That was when she thought he was gone forever. Now he was here. Both of him. She looked into the warm brown eyes of her second Doctor. "This…seeing you again. I never stopped hoping, but I thought…I thought…."

His brown coat was pushed back, hands jammed into his trouser pockets. It was a familiar posture, the one he always took when he was feeling exposed and vulnerable. She wanted to take his hand and comfort him, tell him it was okay, but she was too aware of her first Doctor standing on her other side.

"You thought it would be perfect," her second Doctor said. "Seeing each other from afar. A mad dash. A breathtaking collison. A soul-wrenching kiss. A proper reunion?"

"Yeah." Her voice was small.

"But we can have that, Rose. Don't you see? Oh, maybe not all the trappings." He waved the invisible trappings away with his hand. "But believe me, you're not missing much. Ever had your soul wrenched? Not nearly so pleasant as you might expect. I remember—"

"But we can't. I…" she turned to face her first Doctor. Seeing _him_ again, she'd never expected that. Never even thought to dream it.

"Rose." He cupped her cheek, fingers brushing at the wetness there. "I don't expect a happy reunion. Meeting him," he nodded at her second Doctor, who had fallen silent. "I know what that means, and I suppose so do you. At least, you do now. But I think you might not have done when it happened. And I'm betting it happened…is going to happen, quick. This is a closed time-loop. I have to go back to when I left. Alone. So I'm not here for a reunion." His other hand came up to frame her face. "I'm here for goodbye."

He leaned forward, and she trembled from trying to hold still, not wanting to break this moment as he…

His lips brushed hers, cool and firm. The kiss was too light, inadequate for the deep yearning she'd always felt for him. She tilted her head, swaying into him, wanting more than this breathless, tentative touch. He responded, shifting closer. His hands trailed down to her shoulders, nudging her arms to wrap around him. The brush of lips turned to teeth, then tongues. His hands settled at her waist, pulling her against him. Her own hands bunched around battered leather. Her skin felt so hot, doubly so compared to his coolness. Where they touched, her warmth stole into him. She deepened the kiss and pressed up into him, wanting to suffuse him with her heat. He groaned low in his throat and pulled back from the kiss to press his lips to her cheeks, eyelids, forehead, before tucking her into his chest and holding her tightly, his chin resting atop her head. The tension broke into a deep sense of comfort, of homecoming. It made her want to cry for happiness.

"How's that soul of yours doing?"

Somewhat self-consciously, she lifted her head to glance back at her second Doctor. A small smile curved his lips. Her first Doctor loosened his hold on her, letting her pull away, but he kept her loosely encased in his arms.

"Not quite wrenched. Think I might have twisted it. Just a bit," she licked her lips, still tasting the kiss.

"Let me take a look." Her second Doctor's arms wrapped around her as her first Doctor's fell away. He was still smiling slightly as he kissed her, and she couldn't help but smile back as the absurdity of the situation struck her. They smiled between kisses, her hands resting at his waist -- at least, she thought it was his waist. There wasn't much variation. Her second Doctor was such a beanpole.

The kisses deepened, became more exploratory. He really had the most amazing tongue. He seemed to be tasting her like she was something delicious. Her hands crept up to his hair, bunching it, mussing it about. His hands slid down to her bum, pulling her against him. She broke the kiss with a laugh and he joined in, dark eyes twinkling. Definitely a little bit foxy.

"You look with your eyes," her first Doctor grumbled behind her. Her second Doctor grinned at him over her head.

"You may. My tongue is my strongest sensory organ."

"It's true," she affirmed, pulling back and trying to defuse the situation, although her first Doctor didn't have that blank look he got when he was angry. Or the manic grin he got when he was really angry, so it was probably okay. "He's got a regular oral fixation. Goes around licking everything. Walls. Aliens. One time I walked in on him giving the TARDIS console a tongue-bath."

"I told you, I just spilled some tea."

"I don't want to know," her first Doctor said, holding up both hands.

"Oh, right." How long had she travelled with him, and she hadn't learned better? "I should have thought. I shouldn't be talking about your future, right?"

"That too," he grinned. "But mostly, I just don't want to know."

All three of them began chuckling. The laughter killed the last of the tension. As it faded, Rose decided that the only way to overcome the elephant in the room was to tackle it head on.

"This," she glanced between them, hoping she wasn't being presumptuous, "the three of us, tonight. Is this something I should be embarrassed about?"

"Well, you could do, I suppose," her second Doctor answered after glancing at his past self. "But really, what's the point? We have to get back, have to get _him_ back as soon as we can. We only have until morning before the TARDIS can be ready to pierce the Void again. You'll just be wasting time with false modesty that we could be spending with each other. I could tell you that you don't have to worry because we're the same man, and it's true enough, but the real matter is that I don't think either of us would agree to leave you alone with the other. So as they say, it's all or nothing."

"It's your choice, Rose," added her first Doctor.

She looked between them. It might not be every girl's fantasy, but it had been one of hers, an impossible pairing of the old and the new that she had always assumed was even more far-fetched than her regular, run-of-the-mill fantasies about the Doctor.

"All," she said, taking each Doctor by the hand. "Definitely all."


	2. Part Σ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reunion gets steamy.

Part Σ

Rose suffered a momentary surge of panic as both Doctors leaned in to kiss her. Her first Doctor had pulled her in one direction, but then her second yanked her back, frowning. His pout was met with a cold, blue-eyed glare.

"Stop. Stop it," Rose cut in as her first Doctor tensed to pull her back. "This isn't going to work. I'm not going to be a…a chew toy between you two. There's only one solution."

"The pretty boy sods off for a few hours?"

"Or the navvy takes a bit of shore leave."

"Kiss."

"What?!" the Doctors responded in stereo.

"If this is going to work, you need to be comfortable with each other, not just focusing on me. I'm not gonna be some object you're passing between each other or fighting over. So. Kiss. Or I'll go put on the kettle, and we can have a PG evening, suitable for all audiences."

Both Doctors fidgeted, refusing to meet each others' eyes.

"Rose," started her second Doctor, mouth working as he formed his response. "It's…not that I have anything against being with another man. It's just that…me…and him…it's just—"

"Masturbatory?" her first Doctor provided helpfully.

"I was going to say narcissistic."

"Look." Rose sighed. "Not that I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, but it seems like you two should be as comfortable with the idea of having sex with each other as you are with me. I just don't see this working any other way. So, kiss." She plumped down on the sofa, arms crossed, and looked expectantly up at them. Both Doctors sported similar mulish expressions.

"I'm not sure about this," her first Doctor grumbled.

"What do you care?" her second responded. "You're going to get to forget about it."

"Until I remember it when I'm you."

"Technically, that'll still be my problem since I'm the one who'll be remembering it, so you don't really need to feel any particular hesitation, whereas I—"

"Oh, bugger it. At least it'll shut you up."

Her first Doctor pulled his future self into a rough embrace. Her second Doctor squeaked in surprise, thought he quickly recovered, grabbing the other man by the lapels of his leather jacket and pushing him down to the sofa beside Rose. Their mouths battled with each other's, as if each was using the kiss to prove his sensual superiority to the other. Given the Doctor's rather…healthy ego, Rose wouldn't be surprised if that's what was going on.

Still, it was a beauty to watch. Her breathing grew uneven. When her second Doctor thrust a knee between her first Doctor's thighs, heat flooded through her in response. Her first Doctor used his greater bulk to push the other man back against the arm of the sofa. His hands were entangled in his future-self's thick hair, which made her second Doctor's attempts to pull off the other's jacket rather difficult.

Rose could have watched them go at it for ages, but given their limited time schedule, she wanted in on the action. She cleared her throat. Her second Doctor had succeeded in divesting his other self of the leather jacket and was starting on the jumper. At some point, his own shirt had been unbuttoned and pulled from his trousers. Both Doctors ignored her.

Typical.

"Oy," she interrupted, tapping her first Doctor on the bum. Both men looked up. Her second Doctor's hair was sticking up every which way, giving him a shell-shocked look. Her first Doctor's pupils were dilated, only a thin rim of blue lining them. They both exchanged a brief, smug glance, then grinned at her.

Her first Doctor leaned back and pulled her down. She tumbled back onto her second Doctor, who caught her and nestled her between his thighs. Her first Doctor leaned back over her and caught her in a devouring kiss similar to the one he'd just been giving his future self. Other lips from behind explored the shell of her ear. She shuddered as her second Doctor's teeth nibbled down her neck, moaning into her first Doctor's kiss. He unbuttoned her top one-handed, his other hand capturing hers and bracing their clasped hands on the sofa arm above their heads. Her other hand found her second Doctor's, down by their sides. He entwined his fingers with hers, even as he pulled her hair aside with his "fighting hand" to give him clear access to her throat.

Cool air brushed down her chest as her blouse was laid open, followed by cool lips as her first Doctor pulled away from her mouth to kiss his way across her collarbone and to the swell of her breasts. A soft chuckle ticked her ear.

"I'm a very good kisser." Her second Doctor's voice was smug, and she was overcome by the urge to take him down a peg or two.

"You're right. He is. It's the brooding intensity thing that makes it so hot." She craned her neck to one side to watch his reaction to her gentle teasing. His brows were raised, but he was grinning.

"I can do brooding intensity."

"Puh-lease. The best you could manage is emo." His grin dimmed, and she pressed the tip of her nose to his, holding his gaze. "It's okay. I prefer _you_ smiling."

She kissed him, moaning and arching back as her first Doctor's lips found a satin-encased nipple and fastened around it with a gentle ferocity. His thigh pressed against her center. She rode the waves of pleasure that spread from her breasts to her cunt.

Her first Doctor released her hand, worming his between her back and the body beneath her to unfastening her bra. Her second Doctor abandoned her hand in favor of helping to remove her shirt and toss it aside. It left her clutching the cushions and four Doctor's hands playing along her body. Two hands were at her breasts, squeezing and pulling at the nipple that wasn't being assaulted with maddening thoroughness by her first Doctor's mouth. Another hand tangled in her hair, holding her head back so that her second Doctor could continue to kiss her. The fourth was ruching up her skirt, nails scraping along her thigh.

She raised her hips to meet the hand as it cupped the warm dampness at her center. She tore away from the kiss and threw her head back, eyes clenched against the assault of sensations. Long fingers dipping past the waistband of her knickers, skimming down her slit to catch her wetness, then using that moisture to lubricate her already swollen clit. The fingers played across her clit with gentle deliberation, circling, stroking, rolling, pinching. She knew she was making incomprehensible mewling noises, but she didn't care. Waves of pleasure pulsed through her, bringing her higher and higher. She pressed her heels deeper into the sofa, raising her hips and chest to the sensations that were spiraling up and out of her grasp. She reached out for them anyways. Just. a. little. further…

She came with shattering abandon, tremors wracking her body, her cunt grasping hungrily against emptiness. The hands and mouths that had been pleasuring her rode out the orgasm, pulling every last shudder from her body until she collapsed, nerveless and exhausted and utterly in awe.

She returned slowly from that state of floating bliss. She was still comfortably nestled with her back to her second Doctor. He stroked her hair back from her face, his lips trailing along her temple. Her first Doctor nestled between her thighs. He had propped himself up, and was tracing the features of her face with wistful fingers. When she met his gaze, he pulled back, as if unsure whether he had her consent. She smiled shyly and caught his hand, bringing it back to her cheek.

"I missed you." He started at her words, then grinned like she remembered him doing whenever he was trying to slip past something too emotionally wrought.

"What, this daft old face?"

Her breath caught at his choice of words and she blinked to fight back the rush of sadness at hearing him say them.

"Yes," she whispered, stroking her thumb across his brow and laying her hand along his cheek. "This daft old face. And the big ears. And the leather jacket. I'm so glad I got this chance to see you again. I…never got to tell you how much I—did you just _lick_ me!?" She craned her neck to look back at her second Doctor, who to his credit looked rather guilty at having interrupted the tender moment.

"Well…I…that is, there was a drop of sweat and I…"

"Oh, nevermind." Rose chuckled and snuggled back down between the bodies of her two Doctors. She was feeling too languid to sustain any emotion – be it pathos or irritation – for very long. "I'm taking a nap. You two can resume your make-out session if you want."

She closed her eyes, feigning sleep. She felt them both still, then they shifted and she could hear them kissing over her shoulder. Her first Doctor pressed into her naked chest, and she shifted in irritation against the fabric of his jumper. Her hands went to the hem, tugging it up.

"Itchy," she complained when they broke apart. She tossed the jumper aside. "Just getting comfy. Go back to what you were doing." They resumed kissing. With the jumper gone she was pressed flesh to flesh on both sides. The cool contact of their skin began to rekindle her still-sensitive nerve endings. She lifted her hands and skimmed them along her first Doctor's torso. She brushed past her second Doctor's hands, which were kneading the flesh of his back. Reaching the waistband of his jeans, she scraped her nails along the planes of his stomach and began working at the fasteners.

"I thought you said you were tired," said a northern-accented voice against her ear.

"I am. Take off your jeans."

"Are they itchy too?"

"Yes," she responded, grinning although he couldn't see it. With the fumbling and not-very-helpful aid of herself and her second Doctor, he removed his workboots and jeans. When he would have returned to his place, she pushed him back to a sitting position. Rising up, she threw a leg over his lap to straddle him backwards, pressing back against his chest and trapping his erection between her legs. His breath catch, and his hands grasped her hips. She undulated against him, and his fingers tightened.

"Your turn," she commanded her second Doctor. He rose and divested himself of his coat and suit jacket, but then grinned and shook his head.

"You first," he said, reaching for the skirt that she was currently wearing as a belt. She lifted up and let them slide off her skirt and knickers, then settled back on her first Doctor's lap. The head of his cock bobbed against the warm wetness of her slit. She favored him with another grinding undulation. He bit her shoulder in reprimand.

"We should move this to the bedroom," Rose suggested as her second Doctor disrobed. He pushed her back when she would have risen.

"Stay right there." She didn't quite trust his grin. "I have some exploring I'd like to do."

She leaned back against her first Doctor, who had turned his bite into a series of kisses along her shoulder and up her neck. His cock bobbed warm and hard against her, sliding along the outside of her slick folds. His hands stroked up her sides, finding her breasts and massaging them, rolling her tightening nipples between his fingers. She turned her head to catch his mouth in a kiss, but he avoided her lips, nudging alongside her cheek to explore the shell of her ear.

Distracted and frustrated by his coy refusal to penetrate her, she failed to pay attention to what her other Doctor had been doing. His hands closed around her thighs, spreading them even further apart, which had the unexpected benefit of sinking her more heavily against the cock that was teasing the lips of her cunt. At the increased pressure, a raspy groan rattled in her ear, echoed by her own moan. A trail of wet kisses warmed by breath traced down her belly. She glanced down and was arrested by the sight of her second Doctor kneeling between their thighs, tawny head bent in concentration. A jolting pleasure surged through her cervix, and her pelvic muscles clenched desperately. All she could think about was how diligent he'd been when cleaning the TARDIS' console.

As she watched, his hands crept further up to rest at the crease of her thighs. His fingers massaged along the crease, sending fluttery ripples of sensation through her lower abdomen. He pressed her hips back and she felt her other Doctor's cock pressing even more insistently at her entrance. Her head fell back and she turned her lips into his neck.

"Fuck me. Please," she begged.

He lowered his head and caught her mouth in a hard kiss, sliding his hands back down to her hips and pushing into her with slow deliberation. She adjusted so that she could be seated fully against him, moaning deep in her throat at the tight, stretched feeling of being filled by him. She was still acclimatizing when her second Doctor's fingers parted her outer lips, and his tongue swirled around her clit. If not for the hands on her hips, she would have jerked away from the rush of sensation. As it was, she only rose slightly before being slammed down again on the cock inside her.

Now that she knew it was coming, she managed not to jerk again as her second Doctor's mouth moved back over her clit – tongue flicking, teeth nipping, occasionally sucking hard and long before resuming his gentle licks and nips. Her first Doctor shifted her hips, moving in her with deep, slow strokes. She rocked back and forth between his cock filling her, and the mouth pressed against her. They exchanged languid kisses, both breaking off with caught breath when her second Doctor's mouth moved even lower to press against the place where their bodies were joined. Her first Doctor's hands tightened on her hips and his pace quickened. He buried his head in the crook of her neck. She could only imagine what the other man's tongue must feel like to him, sliding up and down his cock as he entered her, but even imagining it sent pleasure rippling through her body. Her muscles tightened around him, and he groaned again.

She could feel the shift in sensation that heralded the spiraling beginning of another orgasm, tendrils of yearning snaking through her body and coiling deep in her vaginal muscles. Without really thinking, she stilled, reaching down to push her second Doctor away as she reached back to halt her first Doctor's movements.

"Wait," she said, holding herself still until the coiling feeling subsided. Her first Doctor was tense and trembling beneath her as he tried to hold back. Her second Doctor arched an eyebrow, deriving more amusement than was nice at his counterpart's predicament. "I said all, and I meant all. Stand up."

She shifted forward as he complied, the angle change causing her first Doctor to slide deeper into her. He growled as she took control and began riding him. She reached for her second Doctor's hips, pulling him closer.  
He placed a stalling hand on hers. "Rose, you don't need to—guh…" he trailed off in an unintelligible gurgle as her lips wrapped around his cock. She swirled her tongue around the head and circled a hand around the base to steady him, squeezing lightly.

"I want to," she responded, pressing her tongue to the throbbing vein that ran along the underside. "I want you with us. Besides, you're not the only one with an oral fixation. Just hang on, and try to keep up."

She concentrated on exploring him, the softness of his skin, his warm musky scent, the way he bobbed against her lips before she took him into her mouth, the untranslatable gibberish that he began spouting as she pumped him with hand and lips. He seemed unsure what to do with his hands, and he ended up tearing at his own hair like he sometimes did in the throes of mad genius.

She settled into a steady, driving rhythm, pressing back as her mouth pushed forward, pulling up as her lips trailed back to the head. Her first Doctor had moistened his fingers and was stroking her clit. Her lips and vaginal muscles tightened in response, causing both men to groan in unison. The tension that bordered on pain was beginning to build, and she intensified her rhythm. She was so close, but she refused to shatter without them.

Her second Doctor was the first to come. With a shout his hands dropped to her shoulders, trying to push her away, but she clamped down on his hips and took his orgasm deep in her mouth. She tightened lips and hand, extending his orgasm, pulling it from him. As her lips were sliding from him, sucking and swallowing the last of his seed, her first Doctor groaned behind her. He thrust deeply and she felt him pulsing sharply inside her. It was enough to break her. She reared back with a cry, shuddering around him and riding out their mutual tremors. She was vaguely aware that her other Doctor had collapsed to his knees, but she was too concentrated on the violent pleasure to pay anything else much mind.

She jerked through shudders of decreasing intensity, until she lay limp and sated on the equally sated form of her first Doctor. Her second Doctor sprawled across her lap, head pillowed on her belly. She shook off the worst of her lassitude to lift her arm and stroke through his wild hair. Two hands simultaneously reached for her other hand, and the three of them ended up twining their fingers around each other's.

They lay there for some time, none of them willing to disturb the pleasure of the afterglow, until Rose started to feel the chill of the room, and of the two alien bodies sandwiching her. She stirred and was met by grumbles and glares.

" _Now_ can we move to the bedroom?"


	3. Part Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ninth Doctor and Rose say goodbye.

Part Nine

They moved to the bedroom, snuggling under the covers in post-coital bliss. Limbs entwined, languid kisses were exchanged. Eventually, they fell into a sated slumber.

Rose woke some while later. It was dark, and the clock on her bureau showed that it wasn't all that late. She sprawled on her stomach, arm thrown across the chest of her second Doctor, lips resting against the cool skin of his shoulder. It took her a moment to realize that her first Doctor was no longer in bed with them. She lifted her head, saw a dark shape limned by the city lights coming through the window. She brushed a kiss against her second Doctor's shoulder and rose from the bed, careful not to wake him. Slipping on a t-shirt and loose, drawstring bottoms, she padded to the window.

He was dressed again, including the leather jacket she'd come to think of as his armor. He didn't turn to her, although he must have heard her stirring. His shoulders were tense. Ignoring the unspoken signals, she slipped her hand into his, curling her fingers around his.

"Everything all right?" she whispered, knowing it was not. He grimaced in response. She glanced over at the slumbering figure on the bed, then tugged the Doctor away. "C'mon."

She led him out of the bedroom, but one look at his face as he glanced at the sofa told her it wasn't far enough. She pulled on a hoodie and slipped on some trainers, hoping the unseasonable warmth still held. Grabbing his hand again, she led him out into the night.

They walked for a long time, hand in hand, not speaking. It was so strange, being with him again after so long apart, yet knowing more about him now than she'd ever known then. Was it even stranger for him? She didn't even know _when_ he came from – how soon after she'd met him, how soon before the end, before he changed. She was afraid to ask, afraid to accidentally let something slip. She wanted so badly to warn him about Satellite Five and the Daleks, but if anything was taboo, it was that. So she walked with him in silence and struggled over how to speak to this man she knew so intimately.

"The Zeppelins are a nice touch." He broke the silence as they were passing a small park. It was still early enough that they had seen several people, couples and groups walking home from pubs or out to some later-evening entertainment. He led her up to the park's locked gate and dropped her hand to pull out his sonic screwdriver. When the lock popped open, he ushered her through and into the dark and deserted green, "I've always thought that London could do with a few more Zeppelins. Guess the Hindenburg crash never happened in this dimension. Oh, the humanity."

"Naw, no Hindenburg. Just Cy—er…" she broke off. He shot her a questioning glance, one eyebrow raised. She grimaced. "I'm not sure what I can and can't tell you. Seems to me like I shouldn't say anything at all, like I've already said too much."

There was a certain pride in the small smile he gave her, as if he was pleased she'd thought through that problem. "You can tell me anything. It's safe. I won't remember any of it."

"What?" She vaguely recalled that they'd mentioned something to this effect during their bickering, but she'd dismissed it because it hadn't made any sense. "Why not?"

"Closed time-loop," he said, as if that would explain everything, "I _can't_ remember because I _don't_ remember. Or rather, my future self doesn't remember. When we go back, he'll put me back to sleep and hide the memory so I can't find it. Should be easy. Live as long as I have, you're bound to build up a lot of dark corners and dusty compartments in your mind. I'll forget. Time-loop closed. Mission accomplished."

"You'll forget? All of this?" She stopped, forcing him to stop as well. He turned towards her, but his face was still shuttered and unreadable.

"I have to. It was the only way."

"But…" She struggled over the awfulness of it. Tonight was what she'd always wanted with him, but never imagined he wanted in return. This was their goodbye, and he wouldn't even remember? Tears welled up alongside denial, even as she recognized the inevitability of it. It made sense. In that moment, she hated rationality.

"We were never like this." She stepped closer to him, laying a hand upon his chest, because she knew now that it was allowed, welcome even. The steady double rhythm of his heartbeats pulsed beneath her palm. "I was wondering how you could go back after tonight and have us be the way we were. I guess now I know."

He gathered her close. Her own arms slid around his back, under the warm leather of his jacket. She rested her cheek against his chest, and he set his chin atop her head. They stood like that for some time, Rose nestled against her Doctor. The trees muffled the sounds of the city. Somewhere nearby, a pub was enjoying the custom of the after-dinner and -show crowd. Faint, lively music spilled out every time the door opened and closed. But in the darkened square of green, London seemed as distant as any alien planet. The light rise and fall of their breathing was the only sound that mattered in the stillness.

"When is it for you? I mean…" she struggled to think of a better phrasing. "Where are we, uh…"

"We just came back from…seeing your father," he answered, saving her from stumbling through what she'd wanted to ask. "You're…my Rose is staying the night with Jackie."

"I remember that." She pulled back to look up at him. "You stayed with the TARDIS. I thought you were still angry with me."

"I wasn't. I'm not." The tension in his back receded, as if holding her close, being able to talk to her freely, was soothing. "How long until…do we have much time left?"

"A few months," she whispered. It didn't seem like much time to her. It must seem infinitesimal to him. "But it makes sense that he would choose to get you when he did. In a little while…this guy starts traveling with us."

The Doctor's brow furrowed with irritation. "Another one of your pretty boys?"

Rose hurried to reassure him. "Oh, no. He's…you'll like him. He's like you, only with…" Her words fell away as she remembered a conversation they hadn't had yet. There was another distant swell of music and laughter, and Rose realized that she didn't want to waste this precious time with him talking about things that wouldn't matter.

"Will you dance with me?" she asked. He looked like he wanted to pursue her dangling sentence, but after a moment he adjusted his hold on her, swaying her back and forth to the distant sounds of the city. She held his gaze as they moved, searching for the deeper parts of self that he usually kept hidden.

"Why did you say yes? Why did you agree to come?" she finally asked.

He stilled, though he didn't release her. "Don't you know?"

"No."

The Doctor expression alternated between confusion and exasperation. "He's never told you how he…how we've always felt?"

"No." Rose was having trouble catching her next breath. Her hands tightened against the muscles of his back. She tried to appear nonchalant. "Never quite got around to it, I guess."

"He's an idiot," the Doctor muttered.

Rose couldn't help being amused by that. "He's you."

"Oi, no need to be insulting."

"It's weird, you not liking him when he's you," she observed, even though she would have been surprised if things had been any other way. She cocked her head. "Why don't you like him?"

"He's not good enough for you." The Doctor's quiet response made her smile. She refrained from pointing out once again that they were the same man. He'd probably respond that he wasn't good enough for her, either.

"And you're jealous," she pointed out. He opened his mouth, most likely to deny it, but she silenced him with a finger across his lips. "I love him. And you know I love him, and you feel left out of that. But Doctor?" she moved her finger to brush along his cheek. He had grown utterly still. The tension was back. "I love you. I love _you_. Your Rose, staying with Jackie right now? She loves you. If I'd known that you…well. But I didn't. What's done is done, or will be, or whatever. Point is, you shouldn't feel jealous or left out. I love you."

"Rose." His eyes were shining just a little too brightly as he framed her face. "I…can't—"

"S'okay." She smiled as though she was actually brave. "You don't have to say anything. You shouldn't. Feels like it'd be cheating. I've waited this long, I can wait until the time is right. You'll get around to it…eventually."

He snorted. "I wouldn't be too sure. We did just agree I was an idiot."

"Well, that's obvious. Any other bloke'd be kissing me by now."

His smile became a full-fledged grin. He swept her into an engulfing hug. She laughed as he swung her around, stumbling slightly when he deposited on her feet. Before she could get her bearings, he kissed her.

His lips were cool, though they quickly warmed in contact with hers. This kiss was more tentative, more exploratory than the openly carnal or languidly sated ones they'd shared earlier. It almost felt like they were doing everything backwards, falling in love in reverse. What should have felt unexceptional given what they'd already shared instead felt trembling, fresh, and new.

Aroused by the brush of lips but wanting more, she opened her mouth to his. Their kiss deepened, tongues dancing, teeth catching, open-mouthed breaths mingling. His hands found their way under the hem of her t-shirt, caressing the bare skin of her lower back. A mild shiver ran through her and she pressed closer to him.

She felt a momentary pang of guilt when she thought of her second Doctor left behind back at her flat, but she rationalized it away. She would have a lifetime – well, her lifetime anyways – with him. This, tonight, now would be her only chance to be with her first Doctor. Her second Doctor could just deal.

As if reading her thoughts – and who was to say he wasn't; she'd never gotten a clear answer from him on the whole telepathic thing – the Doctor's lips broke away to press against her temple.

"I want you. Here. Now."

"Yes," she breathed, taking the opportunity to nip kisses down to the collar of his jumper. "Yes, please."

He pulled away to shuck his jacket, spreading it on the grass. She took off her hoodie and laid it down as well. He dropped to his knees, pulling her down with him, and kissed her. His hands slid up under her t-shirt, splayed against the skin of her back. She worked her hands under his jumper, running her nails up his spine. He pulled her t-shirt over her head. Her nipples pebbled in the cool night air, but his hands were already covering her breasts, firm and calloused – although not really that much warmer than the night, she realized. She caught her lower lip between her teeth as his thumbs brushed across each nipple, rolling and flicking them gently.

He watched her intently, eyes shifting from her face to her chest and back. When he caught her gaze, he smiled in the way she loved so much. It wasn't the tight grin he used when he was hiding his pain, or the manic grin when he was about to do something completely mad, or even the daft, friendly grin he gave when he was trying to disarm a potentially sticky situation. It was the sweet, intimate grin he would give her when he showed her something he thought was fantastic, in the hopes that she'd find it fantastic too. She grinned back, the tip of her tongue caught between her teeth.

He lowered his head to her breast, tumbling her back onto his jacket as he took her nipple into his mouth. She was caught somewhere between a laugh and a groan as he alternated between nipping and sucking at her breast. His hands skimmed the dip at her waist, the flare of her hips and over the tops of her thighs before sliding back up her center.

He caught the waistband of her trousers and knickers and peeled them down her body. There was a momentary scuffle at her feet as her clothes got caught up in her trainers, but she managed to kick everything free. While they were laughing over that, she took the opportunity to tackle him beneath her, straddling him with a triumphant grin.

"I win!" she crowed.

"If you say so. I'm the one who still has all his clothes on," the Doctor responded with a smirk.

"Yeah, about that…" Rose leaned forward and lifted his jumper, her lips exploring every inch of skin as she exposed it. He was hard beneath her, and she rolled her hips against him.

She trailed a slow path up his chest, relishing the startled hiss he let out when her teeth scraped against his flat nipples. When the jumper was off, she bundled it and tucked it beneath his head. She kissed him. His hands came up to cup her face, turning the kiss into an intense, silent communication of the feelings she'd refused to let him speak. He curled up to meet her, pushing her back with his kiss so that she was sitting upright atop him.

Without breaking the kiss, she slid back down his legs and unfastened his jeans. Her hand slipped inside and wrapped around his cock. He groaned into the kiss. One of his hands left her face, skimming down her body to rest between her legs. Two fingers trailed against the wet slit of her cunt, pulling moisture forward to massage her clit. Their kisses grew rougher, more desperate as they worked each other with their hands.

"Doctor," she finally gasped, tearing her mouth away and burying her head in his shoulder. He had slipped two fingers into her and she was riding his hand shamelessly. He thrust into her fist with equal fervor. "Please. I need…you…"

"Yes," he growled. He pulled his fingers from her, and her muscles clenched at the emptiness left behind. Removing her hand and lifting her from his lap, he pulled off his boots and jeans.

Time seemed to stop for a moment, although she suspected he'd mock her if she shared that observation, so she didn't. They were kneeling naked before each other on a pile of discarded clothing in the middle of a London park. His skin was pale, the muscles of his thighs lean and long – runner's legs, she thought with a small smile. His long face and large ears were flushed darker than the rest of him. He wasn't traditionally good-looking, but he was compelling, and she loved him, and she wanted him.

"Come here," he said. She crawled over, straddling his lap and steadying herself by grasping his shoulders. His hands cupped her bum to support her. The head of his cock nudged at her entrance. She strained towards him, but he held her back.

"Doctor?" she asked, searching his eyes for some clue to his hesitation. They had become shuttered and unreadable again.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked. She blinked in surprise, and for a moment she considered telling him that no, what she wanted was to smack him one for getting cold feet _now_. Tamping down on that (entirely justified, in her opinion) reaction, she cradled his face, his dear, daft face, letting her expression leave him in no doubt that this was exactly what she wanted.

"What do you want?" she asked. The question seemed to break him. He let loose a ragged breath, and his expression was bleak.

"I want to not forget."

The world seemed to fall silent with his quiet words. Her throat constricted, her vision blurred with tears. She struggled for something encouraging, something comforting to say, but found nothing.

"I wish I could give that to you," she said helplessly. He searched her eyes for endless moments.

"Tell me again." His voice was hoarse. Raw. It took her a moment to understand what he was asking for.

"I love you," she offered, hoping it was enough. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers.

"Again," he whispered.

"I love you." She spoke into his lips. He kissed the words away.

"Again."

"I love—" Her breath caught as he entered her, the ‘you' coming as a long, low moan. She was filled with him, filled with love for him. It was almost too much for her, and she held very still lest she break right then. He seemed to sense her need, and waited until she whispered her love again to slide back out to the edge of her.

They began to move together, her soft mantra breaking over him with every thrust. His lips traveled her neck, her shoulders, down to her breasts, then back up to rain kisses over her face. Never her lips, though. She continued to murmur into the night as their pace quickened, grew more desperate. Her vow became jumbled and incoherent as thought broke into pleasure: loveloveloveyou…I…you…I…loveyoulove…love…you…Doctor!

With a final cry, she came. He captured her lips at last, his own cry of completion muffled in her mouth. She shuddered over him, into him, loving the feel of her muscles tightening around him as he spasmed into her. The ripples seemed to go on and on, rocking her to the core of her being. He rode them out with her until she collapsed boneless against him.

He rolled them back onto their clothing, still holding her atop him. She mumbled something that might have been another ‘I love you', but mostly was interested in cuddling into her new body pillow for a nice nap. He brushed her tangled hair back behind her ear, causing her to crack an eye at him. He was gazing at her with an unusually sappy look. She grimaced.

"I must look a fright," she observed, thinking that it had been hours of physical activity since her hair had been brushed, much less washed. She was pretty sure she had grass in her hair, and that her face had probably gone from ‘glowing' to sweaty sometime back on the sofa. His smile just grew wider.

"You look beautiful," he assured her.

"Really?" She began to smile shyly

"For a human."

She smacked him one and wondered if it counted as murder when your lover regenerated.


	4. Part 9/10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctors and Rose explore whether it really is 'Better with Three'.

Part 9/10

Her second Doctor sprawled on the bed, snuffling in his sleep, when they returned. She found it rather endearing, but her first Doctor just muttered something about weak character as he maneuvered past her and into the master bathroom.

She pulled off her rumpled clothes and climbed into the bed, crawling over her second Doctor's slim form. Her breasts brushed against his chest and her thigh pressed between his legs, a bit of pressure and friction to wake him up. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his parted ones. He stirred, his lips tightening against hers and his hands coming up to rest at her waist. She leaned into him, and he raised his head to deepen the kiss. She caught his tongue with her lips, sucking its length as she pulled away from the kiss. His head fell back to the bed, and he looked at her with dazed brown eyes. His hair stuck out I wild disarray. She smoothed it with a soft smile.

"Hey," she murmured.

"Hello," he replied, searching her eyes. "You all right?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "Better than, really. I'm great. Brilliant. Fantastic." She couldn't stop grinning. He frowned.

"I wasn't sure how you'd feel about…this. I didn't know if bringing him…but it was the only way. You know that, right?"

"I'm glad you did."

He looked away at her words, still frowning. She turned his face back towards her. "Hey, Doctor. It's all right. We…" She hesitated, unwilling to go too deeply into what they'd been up to the past few hours. "We talked. I know. About him. About how he has to forget."

"And you're all right with that?"

"No. But that's between you and you, and both of you are all right with it. More or less. Too late to change it now, anyways."

"Rose." His hands came up to pull at his hair, but were stymied by her own hands, still busy smoothing it back. He settled for clutching her shoulders. "I tried. I tried everything. Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, penetrating N-space, reconstructing Z-space. Really, went through a whole alphabet of spaces for a while there. I even tried forgetting you."

He grinned at her raised eyebrow, his distress fading as quickly as it came. Moods as changeable as the weather, this Doctor. She let herself be distracted by his lips, paying more attention to the shape of the words than the content. What would be the muzzling potential of kissing him? It had worked when her first Doctor had tried it.

"Mind you," he continued. "It didn't work. Forgetting you. I was rubbish at it. Kept mooning about acting like a complete plonker. Almost missed a rogue Chelonian clutch hatching on Argolis because something I saw reminded me of you. Would have destroyed the planet and everyone on it, not to mention putting a damper on tourism in that sector. I kept thinking of you at the oddest moments, doing things that I knew would remind me of you. I even went drinking with your mate Shireen. Lovely girl. Shame about the glass eye."

"The what?" Rose blinked.

The Doctor grinned up at her, winked and clicked his tongue. "Just making sure you're still with me."

"Oh, I'm with you." She pressed into him, and he grew harder against her thigh. "You were saying something about trying to forget me. Not exactly the kind of thing a girl likes to hear."

"I was saying that I couldn't forget you." His hands slid down to her bum to pull her against him. "Which, I've been led to believe, is _exactly_ the kind of thing a girl wants to hear."

"Should have had one of your future selves help you out with that," she responded, a bit too sharply.

His smile dimmed. "None of them ever showed. Guess they knew something I didn't."

"Guess so." She bit her lip. She hadn't meant to make him feel more guilty about the situation. As much as it seemed like her Doctors were two different men, she knew that it was – had been – his choice. Forget her then so that he could be with her now. She scrambled for some other topic that would be less fraught. "Will you let me say goodbye this time?"

"Goodbye?" If anything, he seemed more distressed by her request. "You're not coming? I thought that you…that is…" He swallowed, and his grip on her hips loosened. "I guess, if that's what you want, that this is goodbye."

"Not to you, you git." She shook her head. For a genius he could be really dense sometimes. "To my Mum and Dad. Mickey and Jake. My little brother. You know…domestics."

His eyes widened with comprehension and a healthy dose of relief. "Oh! Oh, oh, yes. Yes. I mean…" She was amused to see him scrambling to regain some of his cool. "I suppose. If you must. I don't have to come with, do I?"

"Yes, you do. In fact, just for that, I should make you take them back with us."

"That's not funny."

"I wasn't joking." She relented when he started to look nervous. "Don't worry. I won't. They're happy here. They won't like it, especially Mum and Mickey, but Mum's been expecting this since you said goodbye on the beach. She always knew you'd figure out a way back to me. Although she worried you might destroy the universe in the process."

"Well, I suppose that's it. There's the proof. It's the end of the world. Jackie Tyler proves she's smarter than any of us—Ouch!" He yelped as she yanked on his hair.

"Be nice, or I'll think you've been hanging about with him too much," she warned with a nod towards the bathroom. As if in response, her first Doctor's head poked around the corner.

"Oi, you two. You coming? The water's going to get cold." He disappeared back into the bathroom. Rose looked down at the Doctor beneath her.

"We were thinking we might all take a shower. Get cleaned up and…well…whatever else."

He searched her eyes. "You want some time alone with him? I could, I dunno…make tea or something."

She smiled, knowing how much he didn't want to make that offer, and grateful that she no longer felt the need to accept it. "Naw. It's all right. Better with three, yeah?" She rose, pulling him from the bed with her. His own smile was just a tad rueful.

"I'm going to have the devil of a time pleasing you once he's gone, aren't I?"

"Well." She cocked her head and pretended to consider as she led him to the bathroom. "We could always look up Captain Jack."

She turned her back on his expression of surprise and entered the bathroom. This room was the reason she'd leased the rather dearly-priced flat. Whoever the contractor was, they'd had a decadent streak that was expressed through an enormous tiled shower. Rose had been so spoiled by the extravagant bathing options provided by the TARDIS that upon seeing the bathroom, she'd signed the lease on the spot.

She congratulated herself for that foresight as she and her second Doctor joined her first Doctor in the shower. The steamy water hit her with pleasant sharpness, and she sighed. Despite the many pleasures of the evening – and also because of them, she supposed – she felt disgusting. When cool flesh pressed against her on either side, she just leaned into her Doctors, closing her eyes and letting the water sluice over all of them.

They stood under the pulsing jets for several minutes, letting the water wash away the events of the evening and pound any soreness and aches that had developed. Hands slid along slick skin and lips sucked away beading water, but it stayed exploratory rather than overtly carnal.

"Turn around," her second Doctor ordered. She shifted obediently, and her first Doctor pushed her back into the stream of water, only lightly bussing the lips she'd raised to be kissed. The water streamed through her hair. She heard her second Doctor rummaging through the bottles on the ledge, muttering to himself.

"Will you stop tasting them and just pick one?" said her first Doctor. He seemed more resigned than antagonistic towards his future self.

"Here. This one." The heady scents of jasmine and vanilla filled the shower, and she was pulled back from the spray and turned around again. Hands – her first Doctor's, judging by the callouses – massaged her scalp into a scented lather. She groaned and tilted her head back to give him better access.

It had been ages since someone else had washed her hair. Her Mum used to do it all the time as practice, nails scrubbing deep into her scalp. It had been a comfort thing for her, growing up. Now, as her first Doctor's fingers massaged the gel into her scalp, she realized that having someone wash your hair could be decidedly discomforting, in the best sense of the term. Given the evening's adventures, she should feel as wrung out as a limp noodle, but little tendrils of pleasure wended their way through her. She pressed back into him, rolling her bum against his softened flesh. He hardened in response.

"Stop that." He chuckled and gave her hair a gentle yank.

She was about to respond when the scent of ginger filled the shower. Moments later the skin of her belly was being gently abraded as her second Doctor worked the ginger-scented bath gel into a lather with her mesh sponge. He worked his way up her chest and down her arms, then back to her chest, circling each breast. Her breath caught as he ran the sponge across her nipples, working it lightly back and forth. Her teeth worried her bottom lip as the little tendrils of pleasure became stronger and more insistent.

She was turned around again by her first Doctor, who guided her hair under the stream to rinse out the shampoo. Her second Doctor pressed up against her back, bringing his arms and the lathered sponge around her to scour ginger-scented circles lower and lower along her chest, down past her abdomen. She leaned her head back against his shoulder as he abandoned the sponge and slid soapy fingers into her curls, teasing against her clit. He licked water in a trail along her newly-rinsed shoulder. Her first Doctor pulled them both closer, away from the stream. He kissed her more lingeringly this time before breaking away to press his lips along her cheekbone. His breath tickled at her ear.

"What do you want, Rose?" he whispered, as her second Doctor increased the pressure on her clit. Her hips jerked forward against his hand, and her mouth opened in a silent "O".

"C…conditioner," she managed to gasp. Both Doctors stilled, and she could sense their dual confusion.

"Uh…" said her second Doctor.

"What?" asked her first Doctor.

She opened her eyes then. Her teeth caught her tongue at the looks on their faces. Conditioner -- a territory of esoteric cosmetology that was beyond either of their experience. Her smile grew. _Jack_ would have understood.

"Oh, don't get me wrong," she assured. "This is hotter than anything, and I plan on shagging you both rotten. But none of us wants to deal with my hair if it dries without conditioner. So, yeah. I may want a lot of things once we're out of this shower, but right now the water's getting cold, and I want conditioner."

It was beyond hilarious, how quickly they abandoned her to enjoy the last few minutes of hot water in solitude. It was almost as if she'd uttered the word ‘mortgage'. Smiling to herself, she made quick work of applying the cream to her hair and working out the tangles that had accumulated through the evening. By the time she'd rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, the Doctors had vacated the bathroom. She dried off and patted down her hair, eliminating the rest of the tangles with a wide-toothed comb. Flicking off the lights, she opened the bathroom door and padded a few steps into the bedroom.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust. The moon was near-full, and the pale light from the windows fell across the bed. She held very still, not wanting to disrupt the men on the bed.

Her Doctors had taken advantage of her absence to continue their explorations from earlier in the evening. Her first Doctor straddled her second Doctor, who lay across the bed as if he'd been ambushed but hadn't put up too much of a struggle. They kissed – long, slow, languorous kisses rather than the combative ones of earlier.

Her first Doctor's hands tangled in his future self's damp hair, a temptation she readily understood. There was just something so _tactile_ about it. It begged for fingers to toy with it. Her second Doctor raised his head and his lips trailed down the other man's neck and shoulders, as if exploring the taste of his previous self. Her eyes drifted down the entwined forms, both lean, both pale, both with long, toned legs. Runners, no matter which regeneration. Her soft chuckle was loud in the silence. Her first Doctor glanced back over his shoulder.

"This isn't a show," he said, voice rough and distracted.

"Unless you want it to be," chimed in her second Doctor, propping himself up on his elbows and shooting her a grin and a wink.

"And if I did?" she asked, curious to see how far they were willing to take this. Now that she'd been sated – multiple times – she wasn't in as much of a rush to curtail their fun. After all, as much as she was enjoying the novelty of being with them both at the same time, it had to be an equally unusual experience for the Doctor. Far be it from her to deprive him of experiencing it to its full potential.

The men exchanged a quick look, which made her wonder how thoroughly they understood one another. It was her second Doctor who answered, the roguish grin slipping from his face. "We'd rather have you with us."

She knew then what had passed unspoken between them. Time was short. In a perfect world, a world where they had the luxury of time, her Doctors might be interested in exploring each other, might be willing to perform for her. Not now. Not with dawn fast approaching. There wasn't enough time. She doubted the irony was lost on any of them.

She climbed onto the bed, leaning into her first Doctor's back as she straddled her second Doctor's thighs. "Go back to what you were doing," she said.

He complied, and she satisfied herself with watching the two men kiss. She pressed into her first Doctor's back, reaching around his waist to feather her fingers along their dual erections. They groaned in tandem.

Her first Doctor rolled to one side pulled her forward, swapping places with her. She propped herself up over her second Doctor. He rose up to meet her kiss, tongue exploring the depths of her mouth. She devoured him with equal fervour, pressing against the length of his cock and sliding her wet slit along him to moisten and tease.

Her first Doctor scootched up to kneel behind her, but she reached back to nudge his thigh. She pulled away from kissing the Doctor beneath her.

"Nightstand," she gasped. "Bottom drawer."

"What's in there?" he asked, already leaning over to open the drawer.

"Entertainment centre," she managed to reply. She heard his ‘ah' and chuckle of comprehension before her second Doctor demanded her attention again.

He gripped her hips to stop her from sliding along his length. The head of his cock nudged the lips of her cunt. This was it. Amid all the surprises and reunions and saucy sexual escapades, this was the moment of homecoming. She looked down into his warm, brown eyes. His hair was a mess, his brows raised, and his lips slightly parted, giving him a vaguely gobsmacked look. She smiled.

"Hello Doctor," she whispered.

"Hello Rose," he replied.

He slid into her, oh so very slowly. He held her gaze as she seated fully against him. Her throat worked and her muscles clenched involuntarily around him. He closed his eyes with a groan. She leaned forward onto him, resting her forehead against his. Their uneven breaths intermingled. He shifted, sliding out of her as slowly as he'd entered, letting her feel every inch of him. She hovered over the head of his cock, playing at it with the lips of her cunt, before sliding back down again. They settled into a game of long, slow strokes, savouring each one. Their lips met, kisses just as deep and languid.

When Rose felt cool, slick hands at her bum, she barely faltered, only pulling away from the kiss to catch her breath. With his mouth free to roam, her second Doctor ducked his head to explore her neck and shoulders. Her first Doctor knelt behind her, lubricated fingers sliding between her cheeks and plying around the rim of her anus. He leaned forward, his chest cool along her spine.

"You're sure about this?" he asked.

She gulped and nodded, not confident that she could form a coherent reply. One slick digit pushed carefully into her just as her second Doctor's lips caught her nipple. She pressed back involuntarily at the overload of new sensation. A hand caught her shoulder, forcing her back to arch so that her first Doctor could ready her with his fingers while her second Doctor slid into her and suckled her breasts. It was too much and not enough all at the same time. She whimpered a plea for more, and a second finger joined the first.

Her head sagged forward as she gave herself over to sensation. Her second Doctor released her nipple and caught her lips in another kiss, pushing her hair back with one hand as he guided her hips with the other. He had angled her so that the head of his cock rubbed against some part of her that was sending jolts of pleasure all through her abdomen and up her spine. Her first Doctor's fingers seemed to be stroking that same spot from the other side, and she had to keep breaking their rhythm in order not to spiral out of control. The fingers withdrew, and something larger pressed against her.

"Ready?"

"Oh, god yes," she groaned. He shifted and pressed into her, bit by bit, his cock made slick by the lubricant he'd found in her nightstand. She felt so tight around him, around them both. She concentrated on relaxing her muscles, even though all she wanted to do was squeeze around both of them.

"Breathe," instructed her second Doctor. He demonstrated, and she followed, until both Doctors were fully sheathed.

Her second Doctor broke the breathing before she did, letting out something between a gurgle and a groan.

"You can feel that?" she asked him.

"Of course…I can…the vaginal wall…is a very thin…membrane…really…protecting a large…cluster of nerves—"

"What does it feel like?" she asked, half curious, half wanting to forestall an anatomy lecture during intercourse, and totally turned on by the thought of them feeling each other inside her. He slid out of her. When he slid back in, her first Doctor slid out, and all three of them gasped at the internal pressure and friction.

"Oh," she managed to say.

It was a complicated rhythm they set. Rose tried to help out, but they held her hips still and she eventually conceded that whether it was because they were Time Lords, or the same person, or both, they were much better at managing the timing than she was. She sank into a sea of feeling, their cocks moving in and out of her, hands and lips roaming her body. The earthy sounds of sex filled the room, the slide of flesh against flesh, the low moans and harsh breathing. The heavy scents of jasmine, vanilla, and ginger mingled with the smell of sex. The pace increased gradually and she began to pant his name, encouraging him…them…him to fuck her harder, faster. She could hear him muttering his own encouragement, and she stopped trying to distinguish which _him_ was speaking. They were both her Doctor.

She held out the build-up to her climax for as long as she could, hoping to take them with her, but she couldn't hold out forever. The sharp, bright tension broke, and her orgasm ripped through her, a series of rocking spasms that left her bucking against them, riding the pleasure out. They lost all rhythm, pumping into her, clutching at her hips and biting her flesh. She cried out again as they came, their orgasms sending her into another round of shuddering pleasure.

After an eternity of spiralling down, she collapsed on top of her second Doctor. Her first Doctor sagged on top of her. She basked in the rosy glow of perfect satisfaction for several minutes until she realized that the Doctor underneath her wasn't breathing. She nudged the Doctor on top of her over to one side, and slid off her second Doctor to lie between them. He drew in a deep breath.

"Hey, you all right?" Rose asked.

"Oh, fine. Respiratory bypass. Has to be good for something besides evading the poison gasses of the swamps of Granillius Seven, right?"

Rose knew better than to ask, so she nodded and snuggled between her two Doctors. Arms draped over her, legs entangled with hers. Each of her hands was firmly grasped in one of theirs. It was such a sweet aftermath, given the kinkiness of their evening. Her contented smile turned into a smirk as a thought struck her.

"What's that look for?" her second Doctor asked with drowsy suspicion.

"Oh…just thinking." She chuckled. "I would say that you've just earned every smack my Mum's ever given you."

Her first Doctor lifted up, and both she and her second Doctor laughed at his look of comic horror.

"You mean, she's slapped us more than once?!"


	5. Part Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and his Rose in the TARDIS.

Part Ten

It was closer to late afternoon before Rose was ready to leave. Exhausted by their very active night, she'd slept through the morning, and the Doctors had let her. There was little for her to pack, and she came to the not-so-surprising realization that she had been biding her time in this reality, going through the motions of each day until the Doctor came for her. It was a little disconcerting when she considered how she might have ended up if he hadn't come. As it was, it just meant that she hadn't accumulated much in the way of things she wanted to bring with her. She barely filled her duffel. Just clothes, some pictures and mementos of her family, and a good pair of running shoes.

Saying goodbye to her Mum and the rest of her family was harder. Her second Doctor accompanied her, much to the vindictive delight of her first Doctor, who left to ready the TARDIS with an unrepentant smirk. Her second Doctor got smacked by her mum for his troubles, which caused Rose to smirk a little herself.

Then they were back at the TARDIS. She blinked back tears upon seeing the curved amber walls with their strange roundels, the forked supports stretching gracefully above her, and the green glow of the console. Her face split into a teary-eyed grin as she sensed a welcoming hum. The startled look that her first Doctor shot her confirmed her suspicion that her time as Bad Wolf had somehow created a closer bond between her and the ship than she'd previously had. Her second Doctor patted his previous self's shoulder.

"Told you she was special," he said, moving to the console and beginning the dematerialization sequence.

"I always knew she was special," her first Doctor muttered, moving to the other side of the console.

"Rose, you might want to hold on to something for this," her second Doctor instructed as both men flipped switches and pulled levers. Rose braced herself in the captain's chair, marveling at the sight of two Time Lords working in tandem. It was like a well-choreographed dance, the way they moved around the console. The TARDIS shook, and sparks erupted from the console and rained down from the ceiling above. They never spoke, never shouted impatient instructions or yelled at each other the way the Doctor used to do when Jack would help him fly the TARDIS. They seemed to anticipate each other's needs perfectly.

Then the shaking subsided. They had arrived back in her original reality, and she had to face the hardest goodbye of all. She twisted her hands in her lap, dreading what was to come. The Doctors exchanged uncertain glances. Her second Doctor shifted, ruffling his brown hair.

"I'll just…I'll just wait outside, then," he said, moving down the ramp and opening the doors. "Take your time."

Rose stood as the doors closed. She caught a glimpse of the space beyond the doors.

"We're in the TARDIS?"

The Doctor glanced around the console room. "Just twigged on to that, did you?"

"No. I meant…" She waved away his obtuseness. "This TARDIS is in your TARDIS. Outside those doors, that's your TARDIS' control room."

"Yeah," he conceded. "Takes more than just two Time Lords to cross realities. Takes two TARDISes, too. The interior of a TARDIS exists in a state of multidimensional temporal grace. My TARDIS creates a buffer for his so that—" He cut himself off, his brow furrowing. "Do you really want to talk about this right now?"

"Just…trying to delay the inevitable, I suppose," she answered, lowering her eyes to hide more tears. He closed the space between them, his arms wrapping around her. He held her tightly, cheek pressed against the top of her head as she sobbed for their parting. Every breath she took brought the smells of leather and warm wool, which made her cry harder.

"Why?" she whispered after her tears had run out. "How come you can't stay, just for a little longer?"

"It's dangerous. More dangerous than just coming for you. You've traveled enough with me to know that things often…well, they don't work out in the expected way. The longer I stay, the greater chance something'll go wrong, and we'll end up creating an entry for reapers or worse. I have to go, Rose."

"Yeah, thought it must be something like that," she conceded, snuffling. "But I don't have to like it." She pulled back and gave him a watery smile. He met her with a soft smile of his own, cupping her cheeks and smudging the tears from her face with his thumbs.

"Careful. You're going to hurt my future regeneration's feelings."

"Tough." She pressed her lips together to keep from crying again. Took a deep breath. "He gets around to telling me what those feelings are, and then he can have the moral high ground. Me not wanting this you to go doesn't mean I love future you any less."

Their eyes searched each other's for several breaths, neither of them willing to initiate the closing of that distance. Sealing their goodbye with a kiss would make it real. With a sad quirk of his lips, the Doctor leaned towards her, and his lips met hers. Softly, tentatively they explored the kiss. There was no passion to this goodbye, just wistfulness and infinite love more real than any words. Reluctantly, she pulled back. No kiss could go on forever, no matter how much they might both want it. The Doctor framed her face with his hands.

"Rose Tyler." His northern burr leant her name a depth and timbre that made her grow still with its intensity. His blue eyes held hers, as if to ensure she'd never forget his next words. His lips quirked into a brief smile. "Have a fantastic life."

She nodded, unable to respond for fear she'd break down again. A fantastic life. It was all he'd ever wanted for her. He kissed her once more, a rough goodbye, then turned and strode down the ramp and out of her life.

She backed up until her legs nudged the edge of the captain's bench. Collapsing onto it, she huddled with her knees drawn up to her chest, awaiting her second Doctor's return. Her only Doctor now, she supposed. The sadness had all been cried out of her. She felt raw, wrung out, new. It had been right, being able to say goodbye to her first Doctor. It had helped, seeing them together, learning the similarities and differences. She could put away the little wistful moments when she wished her second Doctor would smell like leather, or look at her with blue eyes instead of brown, or even be just a little surly instead of enthusiastic to the point of mania. She turned and lay back along the bench, staring up at the curved ceiling of the TARDIS. The ship's presence was a soothing hum that enveloped her.

She didn't stir when the Doctor returned. She waited as he sent the TARDIS into the Time Vortex, suspecting that they wouldn't be truly done and things wouldn't be truly safe until they'd left. It was an unusually smooth transition, as if neither the Doctor nor the TARDIS wanted to test the fragility of her state at that particular moment with a rollicking dematerialization. When the rotor had settled and the room had dimmed again, the Doctor leaned up against the console. She rolled her head to the side to meet his eyes.

She could see concern there – worry for how she was taking all this now that it was over. She could also see something she never thought she'd see in him. Hesitation. She blinked. Avoidance she had half-expected. He was the king of the purposely-obtuse. But he just stood there, propped against the console and looking as if he didn't quite know how to proceed, as if he was reluctant to take his usual tack of jumping in with both feet in his mouth. It was up to her, she supposed.

"Hey." She reached out a hand to him.

"Hello." He took her hand. She shifted up, pulling him down to sit on the long bench with her. Shoulders, hips, and thighs nudged against each other. She twisted to look at him.

"I'm the same man, you know," he said in a rush that reminded her of the days before she'd fallen through the Void, when it was always one or the other of them attempting to fill the silence of unspoken desires and emotions that lay between them. She steeled herself, determined not to fall back into that particular old habit even if she didn't quite know how to stop it.

The words continued to pour forth from him. "I mean, the surface details are different. His ears, my mole, his taste for sardines on saltines." He pulled a face at that particular preference. "But the stuff that matters is the same. Still love exploring time and space, still love meeting new people, still love running for my life from the latest threat, still love—" His words caught in his throat, words she suspected included an admission he'd never been able to make. His mouth worked, and he finally filled in the gap in subdued tones. "Still love travelling with you."

"I know." She squeezed his hand. "I know that. All of it." _And everything else, too_ , she thought, resigning herself to the possibility that he'd never bring himself to say it.

"But you still miss me. The old me," he pressed.

"Doctor. All that stuff, the stuff that stays the same? That's what I—" she hesitated, but decided that one of them had to be emotionally mature about all this. "That's what I _love_ about you. So, yeah, I miss the little bits, the ‘sardines on saltines' of you, but that's not what matters, yeah? I'd love you even if you looked 70 years old or wore funny, mutli-coloured, I dunno…hats or something."

"Well, that's just silly, Rose Tyler. Why would I wear funny, multi-coloured hats?"

She shook her head with a chuckle, leaning into his shoulder to break away from his gaze. Maybe she wasn't as ready for this as she thought.

"So," she ventured, tracing the back of his hand with one nail. "You really don't remember anything?"

"Well, I remember this me's part in everything. I was there. Well, I mean, of course I was there. Twice. You knew that. Hard to miss it. As to the rest, I had to hide the memories pretty deep from myself. Lucky thing is, since I'm the one who hid them I know where to find them. All I have to do now is go in, pull them out, unpack them and…" His voice faded. She looked up as he stiffened next to her. His eyes were wide, darting back and forth as if seeing something that wasn't there.

"Doctor?"

His gaze snapped to hers, but his eyes had gone dark and unreadable. One brow twitched up and he breathed in sharply. Her unease grew.

"You ditched me," he said in a low, accusing tone.

"I…what? No." She realized what he must have remembered. She had to find a way to make him see the rightness of what had passed between her and his former self. "I mean, yeah, but not really. We just went for a walk and then…we…"

As his brow arched further, she gave up trying to justify herself. She sat back and crossed her arms. "It's not like I cheated on you."

"Rose Tyler, you ditched me. You and I…we went…and the park…and…oh. Oh!" His eyes widened, then narrowed. "You ditched me," he repeated.

"Oh, you're not seriously getting worked up about that, are you?" she demanded, throwing her hands up. She could see where this was going. He was already working himself up to a state of exaggerated outrage. Drama queen. She rolled her eyes and turned to face him, slinging one leg over his lap to straddle him. He grabbed her hips on reflex. Let him try to perform outrage with a lap full of her. She draped her arms over his shoulders and fixed him with a sardonic look. "Honestly, Doctor. You were just saying that you're the same man.

He arched an eyebrow. "Rose, I'm trying to work myself into a self-righteous fury here, and you're not helping with your complete lack of concern and your reasonable arguments."

She shook her head. "Why do you want to be in a self-righteous fury? Doesn't sound too fun to me."

"Oh no. Loads of fun to be had." He settled her more firmly against him as he got into his explanation. "For instance, I'm not likely to take you up against the TARDIS console in a rough passion unless there's something spurring it on."

She looked askance over her shoulder at the console, covered with very breakable-looking knobs, levers, and other things that stuck out. "Doesn't look like it'd be all that comfortable. For me or for her."

"Well, no. Now that you mention it, probably not. See, that's the usefulness of self-righteous fury. You don't stop to consider things like that."

"Doctor, why the sudden need to take me up against the console?"

"Well, it's just that…after last night – and don't think I'm not still a little irked about you lot ditching me, ‘cause I am – but I just started thinking that you might find this old life a little…"

"What? Dull? Boring? _Domestic_?" She laughed and stroked his hair. "Doctor, I figure that by this time tomorrow, we're going to be on some amazing adventure. Our lives are going to be in danger, and probably some world or another is going to be threatened with annihilation. And we're going to be there, making a difference. That's the life I want with you. That's the thrill I want to share. This reunion's been wonderful, but the truth is, I can't wait to get back to our same old life, yeah? I've never needed anything else."

He caught her hand, curling his fingers around hers and bringing them to his lips. "Rose Tyler, you're amazing."

"And don't think I'm gonna let you forget that." They shared a smile.

"Right then." He stood, forcing her to stand as well, though he still held one of her hands against his chest. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right. Stay here." He planted her where she was and walked away down the ramp.

"What—" she began to ask, but was cut off by a waving of hands and a series of tch-ing noises from him.

She watched in bemusement as he strode to the TARDIS doors and turned around. Her breath caught from the intensity of the gaze he leveled on her. She couldn't blink or look away as everything in the room except him faded from focus. He ran back up the ramp, his pace increasing as he neared her. She swallowed past the hitch in her throat. He swept her into his embrace and swung her in a wide arc. He laughed like a madman, and she couldn't help but join in, even though she didn't quite know what they were laughing about. Then he kissed her, cutting her laughter short, swallowing it as his tongue delved deeply into her mouth and his body bent hers to him.

She clutched at him, overwhelmed in the moment by all that had occurred and all that was occurring. She was back. They were together. They had each other and the whole of time and space to explore. Wither and die seemed forever away. Loving him in this moment felt like touching eternity. He broke the kiss, grinning down at her with just a touch of the manic.

"What was that all about?" she gasped.

"A proper reunion, remember? Minus one important detail." His grin softened and he stroked one finger down her cheek. "Rose Tyler, I love you."

About time. She nodded and fixed him with a stern glaze. "Quite right, too. And I suppose, even though _I've_ said it dozens of times at this point—"

"You sure you want to go there?" he interrupted. "Cause that was mostly in the park. You know…when you ditched me?"

"Shut it you." She punched his shoulder. He winced but fell quiet. "I was _saying_ , Doctor, that I love you too."

He gave her a lopsided smile and took both her hands in his. "Fantastic."


End file.
